Board of Health: Flu on the decline in Montco

NORRISTOWN — While state officials are still calling it a “widespread” level of activity, flu virus numbers are down within the county, Montgomery County Board of Health members said Wednesday.

The highest numbers of the flu virus have been documented at local long-term care facilities, said Julie Paoline, director of communicable-disease control for the Health Department.

“Due to influenza activity in all regions of Pennsylvania, it’s still being labeled widespread, but we know that influenza has already peaked and we’re already seeing numbers start to decline at this point,” she said.

Paoline said last year’s flu seasons was very mild.

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According to flu data from the Board of Health’s division of communicable diseases control and prevention, 66 people in the county were hospitalized for the flu in the 2009-2010 season — nine of them resulting in death. In the 2010-2011 season, 75 people were hospitalized, with seven deaths. In the 2011-2012 season, only four people were hospitalized, with none of them resulting in death.

So far, in the 2012-2013 season, 180 people have been hospitalized — 10 of them resulting in death.

“This season, things certainly were on the uptick, but we expect that with the flu. It’s cyclical,” said Paoline.

Throughout the county, health officials said there had been 25 reported influenza outbreaks at long-term care facilities, which house many elderly patients. The board of health offers precautions and recommendations to various care facilities about what to do, though it is not within its jurisdiction to mandate a stop on further admissions.

According to Paoline, the flu activity status is determined by state officials examining reports of laboratory-confirmed influenza, clusters or outbreaks of the flu in institutional settings, outpatient doctor visits attributed to the flu and the number of emergency room visits at Pennsylvania hospitals.

In that same vein, another concern for health officials has been contraction of the Norovirus, which is sometimes called the “stomach flu” or “stomach bug.” It mainly attacks the gastrointestinal tract.

When such outbreaks are identified, the health department urges patients and hospital staff to pay special attention to symptoms. It also makes recommendations that the facility suspend accepting new admissions and increase infection control measures.

“That’s certainly where older adults are housed and have underlying medical conditions, which puts them at greater risk for complications of Norovirus,” said Paoline, citing nine suspected Norovirus cases in local long-term care facilities. Seven of the nine have been confirmed through laboratory testing that the Norovirus was the organism causing the illness in the patient.

“We recommend they utilize the prevention measures, increase the use of appropriate hand hygiene and utilize (wearing) gloves and gowns to stop the spread of disease transmission throughout the facility. We (advise) they suspend admissions until the outbreak is under control.”

In other news, the board of health has declared the week of April 1 through 7 as Public Health Week in Montgomery County. Department staff will be using social media to educate the community on the importance of public health and disease prevention. Planning for a community event is still under way.